The invention relates to a device and a method for analysing a chemical or biological sample, in particular a sample of biological origin, e.g. a biological sample comprising nucleic acids. The invention furthermore relates to the field of “lab-on-the-chip” technology suitable for “in-field” and “point-of-care” (POC) applications.
Highly sophisticated chemical, biochemical or molecular biology based analyses, such as nucleic acid testing, NAT, in particular all modifications of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), become more and more attractive in medicine and health care as well as in nearly all fields of industry, including agriculture, biotechnology, chemical and environmental businesses. There is a great demand for analytical methods capable of satisfying the increasing requirements concerning, for instance, therapeutic outcome or planning and controlling of industrial manufacturing processes and costs.
Most of the state-of-the-art analytical systems are very complex, require handling of unstable reagents, expensive laboratory equipment and as well as highly trained personnel to conduct and interpret the testing. Hence, the analysis is usually neither time- nor cost-effective as it involves sending a specimen to a specialised laboratory with considerable delay in obtaining results. For this reason, in-field and point-of-care testing (POCT) have become particularly desirable as they significantly shorten sampling-to-result time. In clinical diagnostic, some asymptomatic patients are likely to become impatient with the testing process and fail to attend the follow up appointment, thus should be offered proper treatment or reassurance during a single visit. Furthermore, there is a prompt need for rapid, easy-to-perform tests for other in-field applications, e.g. forensic testing (“scene-of-crime”, “point-of-arrest”), food testing (GMO detection, food fraud), defence (bio-thread detection) and many more.
Until now, lab-processed nucleic acid testing (NAT) has generally had much greater sensitivity than rapid POC tests, being usually based on pathogen immunodetection. Most of the NAT-based platforms and technologies currently under development do not provide an integrated solution for sample preparation, analysis and data evaluation. An example of a successful platform is known from WO 2005/106040 A2. Said device, however, requires manual loading of reagents which can be inconvenient for the user and error-prone. Also the data evaluation requires operator intervention. It is therefore inappropriate for in-field testing. Further the complex lab-in-a-box design of the device, which consists of several large injection moulded parts and further several mounting parts such as filters, screws, and nuts, etc., results in high costs for the disposable device.
Accordingly, the present invention aims at providing a device for analysing a chemical or biological sample, which avoids at least one of the disadvantages of the devices known from the state of the art. In particular, the subject of the present invention is to provide a device which enables rapid testing, is easy to handle and rather inexpensive to produce.
This object is solved by a device that includes a device comprising at least one depot chamber and at least one process chamber, whereas the process chamber is integrated in at least one first support member and the depot chamber is integrated in at least a second support member, whereas the support members are arranged in that the process chamber is connectable with the depot chamber by a relative movement of the first and second support members with respect to each other, said device further comprising a pump element for transferring the substances inside the device from one chamber to another, said pump element being integrated in one of the support members; and a base station, said base station comprising at least a pump drive which acts on the pump element of the device in order to create a pumping pressure; and by a system including the device. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are subject to the respective dependent claims. Furthermore, a method is suggested which allows for an easy and inexpensive analysis of a chemical and biological sample.